‘Tis The Season…

…no – not that season! It’s the season of renewal – flowers budding and new growth. And rain.
I’ve been sitting here today, either listening to the rain or enjoying the all-enveloping greyness of the weather. I’m even in my dressing gown!
I haven’t been able to go for my walk the last few days. The last time I went I took some photos of the flowers I saw – they were opening up with the sun, looking forward to the summer.

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These lovely sweet smelling white flowers are just about to bloom en masse. Even my onion for lunch was showing me love. 🙂

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A couple of days ago was Hubby’s birthday. We had a low key day – went to Bunnings to pick up some herbal tea plants.

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From top right – pineapple sage, chamomile, lemon balm and peppermint.
We got them planted out before the rain, which they have appeared to enjoy.

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On our way home we stopped at the Japanese Gardens down the road, and sat by the teahouse for a while. Peaceful and dreamy – not a lot in the way of dragonflies and butterflies, but lots of new flowers.

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My spring has long gone – I’m somewhere in the summer of my life. This was brought home to me again the other day when I watched a YouTube clip of a recent acoustic version of A-Ha’s “Take On Me”. That was not originally one of my favourite songs, but I felt a bit nostalgic, especially with the shots of middle-aged women singing along… I think it sounds good as an acoustic song. Probably the first time I’ve been able to understand the words. Here it is, for your enjoyment…

Enjoy the rain. Enjoy the flowers. And enjoy whatever season of life you find yourself in! 🙂

Published in: on October 16, 2017 at 4:17 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Frozen

It’s been a bit of a year… health issues here and there, drifting into “Can’t Be Bothered” the last part of the year..
I’ve had various visits to doctors, with no particularly helpful outcomes. Some things resolve, some don’t. For the last few months I’ve been progressively shutting down – pain, stiffness, lack of interest. Finally, I have an answer, and a light at the end of the tunnel. 🙂

Heard of “Frozen”? I have frozen shoulders! How cool am I?
Seriously, though, it’s been a bit difficult… if you want to read about what it is, here’s a link.
Basically, there’s three stages –
Freezing – increasing stiffness, lots of pain.
Frozen – Stiffness, but pain receding.
Thawing – Mobility increasing, pain returning.
There’s no hard-and-fast rule, but resolution of all three stages appears to take 1-3 years. I’m in the first stage, possibly sliding into second. The pain is… hard to describe.. and can be caused by a random movement, or just lightly bumping against something… sometimes even just sitting still for a period of time can trigger it. I can’t stretch my arms out to the side very far, and behind not at all. This makes things such as dressing oneself, washing/brushing hair, and basic sleeping (can’t stay in one position for too long) difficult to impossible.

I’d love to just Let It Go! 😉

What’s in the future?
I’ll probably be getting corticosteroid injections into the shoulder joints sometime next week, which should hopefully reduce or eliminate the need for constant pain medication. I also seem to have thyroid issues (one of the possible underlying factors for frozen shoulders), so I’ve started taking vitamins/minerals/herbal preparation drops to revive and support my thyroid/adrenal/hypothalamus/pancreas. I probably won’t be running marathons by next week, but things are looking up! 🙂

So, if you see me, and I look like I’ve dressed in a dark room, using a random tree branch to brush my hair, it’s not that I’m not trying – I just can’t do it as well as normal…

Here’s to becoming Un-Frozen!

Published in: on December 13, 2014 at 2:46 pm  Leave a Comment  
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